Mobile City Council approves 3-year deal with tourism promoter

MOBILE, Alabama -- A year after slashing the Mobile Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau’s funding in half, the City Council on Tuesday approved a three-year contract with the tourism promoter.

The council approved the contract unanimously during its Tuesday business meeting.

The contract calls for a baseline payment of $2.4 million each year, though the City Council can amend that amount by adjusting the bureau’s allotment in the city’s general-fund budget.

Mike Lee, chairman of the bureau’s board, said the City Council’s action comes not a moment too soon, as the organization was in danger of running out of money in a matter of days.

Though the body voted with one voice, the City Council engaged in some pointed discussion on the topic before making its decision.

Councilwoman Bess Rich was concerned about the source of the bureau’s funding. She said she was under the impression that the bureau was, after a fashion, self-funded through a lodging tax and an extra 1-percent sales tax added to restaurant purchases.

Mobile Mayor Sam Jones said those tax sources do pay for the bureau, but they are not directly tied to its performance. The city decides on its own how much to give the bureau, he said.

In years past, the bureau’s funding was a direct function of the amount of money collected, he said. After Hurricane Katrina, however, when Mobile’s hotels were filled to capacity, the city decided to cut the tether between the two so as to keep some of the revenue, Jones said.

Lee said the bureau would like to see some sort of link re-established between the organization’s funding and the lodging tax and restaurant tax. Having an identified, guaranteed, funding source would be a sounder business practice, he said.

For the time being, though, the bureau is simply glad to have the long-term contract in place, Lee said.

In 2010, the bureau saw its funding temporarily reduced to $1.2 million after the City Council raised questions about how the money was being spent. 